By CHRIS GRYGIEL, SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF

Updated 2:16 pm, Thursday, August 25, 2011

Seattle must take the "high road" in its jobs and infrastructure efforts to effectively compete in the new world economy, Mayor Mike McGinn said Thursday as he gave a one-year report card on his administration's efforts to bring the city out of the Great Recession.

"A focus on the economy has to be our highest priority," McGinn said at a news conference just south of Pioneer Square. "The economic situation we face, and growing jobs locally and taking action locally is about the most important thing that city government can do."

In August of last year, McGinn announced a plan to create 10,000 jobs over several years, with $70 million in new financing for businesses and investments in the green building industry. McGinn's Thursday press event came at a time when there are questions about the initial effectiveness of a city green jobs program, which is part of a $20 million federal grant. Seattlepi.com reported last week that only three homes had been retrofitted and just 14 jobs created from the program, which has a goal of creating 2,000 jobs and refurbishing 2,000 homes in poor neighborhoods. (For more on that, click here).

(Created or retained) 3,270 jobs (919 through city lending programs that delivered $36.5 million in loans to 84 businesses, 1,990 jobs in City construction improvement projects and 361 jobs in City Light and its conservation programs).

Invested $1 million 18 neighborhoods through the Office of Economic Development.Worked to pass the expansion of street food vendors in the city.M

Moved forward with a proposal to extend drinking hours and other efforts to create a more vibrant bar and nightlife scene.

Delivered a pilot broadband project for Pioneer Square, as well as moving to allow increased density in South Downtown.

McGinn said the downturn in the economy had hit Seattle hard, with the city losing 35,000 jobs between 2007-2009. In the past year, McGinn said the city had seen a net gain of 10,000 jobs, and that 85 percent of the new apartment construction in King and Snohomish County was happening here.

"A year ago, we had no cranes. You look around now and you see hard hats and cranes," the mayor said.

McGinn emphasized it was important to take the "long view" when doing economic planning.

"There are choices. One choice is the low road..what we do is we go for low-cost, low wages...push environmental costs onto the community or into the future to try to compete on the basis of low price. I'll tell you, the City of Seattle and our region is never going to beat the rest of the world by competing in a race to the bottom. We can't win that."

McGinn said Seattle has to take the "high road."

"Compete on the basis of quality, compete on the basis of innovation, the intelligence, savvy and hard work of the people that are here. It means that look to address the income inequality that we see," McGinn said. "he cities that figure out first how to exist in a high-energy cost future are the ones that are going to thrive. Everybody's trying to figure out, 'how do we get off of carbon?' The cities that figure that out are not just going to have lower costs locally and a healthier lifestyle, but they're also going to be the places that export this knowledge to other places. Just like we export airplanes and software, we're going to export our knowledge and vision of how you create a high-road economy."

Kevin Daniels, owner of a Pioneer Square real estate company, said City investments in his neighborhood – like bringing in broadband and doing density rezones - had helped revitalize it, leading to new companies like online-diamond retailer Blue Nile moving in.